Ayaan's phone buzzed just past dawn.
His eyes barely opened, the room still grey with sleep. He almost let it ring out, until he saw the name:
Rehan.
He sat up.
"Hello?"
"Ayaan." Rehan's voice was tight. Not sleepy. Shaken.
"He's gone."
Ayaan blinked. "Who?"
"Sameer."
A moment of silence. The kind that presses on your chest.
"What do you mean gone?"
"I mean—he's not home. His mom called me. Said he never came back last night. I thought maybe he stayed at your place."
Ayaan's breath caught.
"No. He didn't."
Rehan cursed softly on the other end.
"He messaged me around 11. Just said 'bro I'll talk later'. That's it. His phone's been off since. No one knows where he went."
Ayaan pushed off the blanket, now wide awake.
He remembered the feather Rehan had shown him yesterday. The strange hum it carried, like something alive.
He hadn't told Rehan, but that same night, he'd had a dream.
No — not a dream.
Something else.
In it, Sameer was standing at the edge of the road—the same road from that day. A blank expression on his face. Behind him, a dark fog moved… like it was waiting for him to step in.
He never told anyone.
Now, the image returned.
Stronger.
"Rehan," Ayaan said slowly. "We need to go back to that road."
"What?"
"I'm serious. This isn't normal. First the signs… the feather… now this. We disturbed something."
Rehan was silent for a beat.
Then:
"I was afraid you'd say that."
Ayaan stared out his window.
Birds chirped outside, unaware.
But in his chest, something had shifted.
Whatever took Sameer… it wasn't done.
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